CPI Methodology
BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, Consumer Price Indexes
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How BLS Measures Price Changes in the CPI for...
How BLS Measures Price Change in the Consumer Price Index for:
Articles and Research Papers
Reports
- CPI research series using current methods
- Reconciliation Between the CPI and PCE Price Index. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) undertook a joint project to detail and quantify the differences between the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Chain-type Price Index. A paper summarizing these differences can be found on the BEA website at http://www.bea.gov/papers/pdf/cpi_pce.pdf. The latest reconciliation tables can be found at http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/nipa_underlying/pce-cpi.asp.
- Treatment of Owner-Occupied Housing in the CPI — Paper presented to the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC) on December 9, 2005 (PDF)
- Updating the Housing Age-Bias Regression model in the Consumer Price Index (PDF)
- Guidelines for Quality Adjustment of New Vehicle Prices (PDF)
- Experimental Consumer Price Index for Americans 62 years of Age and Older, 1982–2007 (Monthly Labor Review April 2008) (PDF)
- NEW Experimental Consumer Price Index for Americans 62 years of Age and Older, 1982–2009 (PDF)
- Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2010 (PDF)
- Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2010–December 2010 (PDF)
- Consumer Price Index Users Survey (PDF)
- Hedonic Quality Adjustment in the U.S. CPI (HTML)
- Seasonal Adjustment in the U.S. CPI (HTML)
- Notes on a Chained Consumer Price Index (HTML)
- Pharmaceutical Pricing in the PPI, CPI, and IPP (PDF)
BLS Statistical Survey Papers
- (2010) Defining an Outlet: What Characteristics are Truly Price Determining? (PDF)
- (2010) Sampling and Weighting of Commodity and Service Units for the Elementary Level of Computation of the U.S. Consumer Price Index (PDF)
- (2010) Improving the Preliminary Values of the Chained CPI-U (PDF)
- (2007) Reduction of Sample Areas in the Consumer Price Index and Consumer Expenditure Survey Designs (PDF)
- (2007) Empirical Evaluation of X-11 and Model-based Seasonal Adjustment Methods (PDF)
- (2006) Evaluation of X-11 and Model-based Seasonal Adjustment Methods for Economic Time Series (PDF)
- (2006) A Spatial Analysis of Price Change in the Housing Component of the Consumer Price Index (PDF)
- (2006) Comparison between Chained CPI-U and Regular CPI-U All-US Indexes in the Housing Sector (2000–2004) (PDF)
- (2006) Evaluating a Calibration Weighting Scheme for Elementary Indexes for Commodities and Services in the U.S. Consumer Price Index (PDF)
- (2006) Estimating Dynamic Price Indexes (PDF)
- (2005) The Effect of Attrition on Variance and Index Estimates in the Housing Component of the Consumer Price Index (PDF)
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- (2005) Comparison between Chained CPI-U and Regular CPI-U: All-U.S. Indexes at Lower Item-aggregate Levels (2000–2003) (PDF)
- (2002) A Note on the Effects of Extreme Price Values on Price Indexes (PDF)
- (1993) Some Issues in Seasonal Adjustment When Modeling Interventions (PDF)
Monthly Labor Review Articles on CPI Methodology
CPI Working Papers
- (2010) Do the Poor Pay More Store-By-Store? (HTML)
- (2010) Note on Standard Errors and Other Relevant Statistics of Experimental Poverty Thresholds Produced at the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 2006 to 2008 (PDF)
- (2009) Reconsideration of Weighting and Updating Procedures in the US CPI (HTML)
- (2009) The Puzzling Divergence of Rents and User Costs, 1980–2004 (HTML)
- (2008) New Evidence on Outlet Substitution Effects in Consumer Price Index (HTML)
- (2008) Creating a Consistent Poverty Measure over Time Using NAS Procedures: 1996-2005 (HTML)
- (2007) Household Spending Patterns: A Comparison of Four Census Regions (HTML)
- (2007) Improving the CPI's Age-Bias Adjustment: Leverage, Disaggregation and Model Averaging (HTML)
- (2007) Explaining the Rent-OER Inflation Divergence, 1999–2006 (HTML)
- (2006) The Effects of Rounding on the Consumer Price Index (HTML)
- (2003) Alternative Consumer Price Index Aggregations: Plutocratic and Democratic Approaches (HTML)
- (2002) An Examination of the Difference Between the CPI and the PCE Deflator (HTML)
- (2002) Constructing Household Specific Consumer Price Indexes: An Analysis of Different Techniques and Methods (HTML)
- (2001) Random Errors and Superlative Indexes (HTML)
- (2001) Using Hedonic Methods for Quality Adjustment in the CPI: The Consumer Audio Products Component (HTML)
- (2001) The Used Car Price Index: A Checkup and Suggested Repairs (HTML)
- (2001) Quality Adjusted Price Indexes for Four Year Colleges (HTML)
- (1999) Small Sample Bias in Geometric Mean and Seasoned CPI Component Indexes (HTML)
- (1996) Bias in the Consumer Price Index: What Is the Evidence (HTML)
- (1996) Price Dispersion and Cost-of-Living Indexes (HTML)
- (1995) Improvement to the Food at Home, Shelter, and Prescription Drug Indexes in the U.S. Consumer Price Index (HTML)
Citations for papers not available online (HTML)
Special Notices
" Publishing Consumer Price
Indexes to Three Decimal Places: Questions and Answers".
Seasonal adjustment in the CPI, our page on seasonal adjustment.
Further Information
For further assistance contact the CPI Section of Index Analysis and Public Information at
cpi_info@bls.gov or (202) 691-7000.
Last Modified Date: April 11, 2012
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